Judging Capacity for Communal Cat Rooms

When determining the capacity of communal cat rooms, experts recommend 1.7 square meters of floor space – or 18 square feet per cat – which is more than is typically allotted for a single housed cat.

These space requirements are important to note because they mean that group housing does not necessarily save space in a shelter. Cats should have at least three feet to 10 feet between beds and resting areas in a group setting so they can spread out and feel comfortable.

For operational and disease-control reasons, it's better to provide several smaller rooms than one large one. Some shelters find that smaller colonies are easier to manage, with four to six cats per colony being an optimal size.

Typical Layout of Communal Cat Room

How Many Rooms Do You Need?

The number of group rooms that will be effective for your shelter depends on:

Shelter philosophy, staffing and your cat population

Adoption demand, since in general it's best not to display more cats than you can adopt out in a short period of time

An effective approach is to develop some flexibility for how many cats you display depending on daily demand. For example, if it is possible to have two “wings” of adoptable cats, consider opening one wing when traffic is low. On heavy traffic weekends, or when the shelter has big adoption events, both wings may be opened to accommodate higher traffic and demand.